Much attention is paid in automobile design and manufacture to provide automobile windshields which provide good visibility and field of view to the driver, while at the same time contributing to the attractive appearance of the automobile. Modern automotive designs tend toward the curvaceous, and windshields have reflected this trend, utilizing compound curves in a single wide pane. Although automobile windshields are durable and subject to very little degradation from erosion or corrosion, impacts from road debris, tree branches, or minor or major collisions can crack or rapture the windshield. Small cracks may be repaired with sealant or crack fillers. Larger cracks, however, require replacement of the entire windshield as a unit.
Windshield replacement is undertaken by installers throughout the country. Because it is considered an infraction of traffic codes in many localities to operate a vehicle with a severely damaged windshield, most windshield replacements are made in close vicinity to the scene of windshield damage. Often installers in mobile vans will bring the replacement windshield to the damaged car, and will remove the damaged windshield and install a new one while the car is parked on the street.
There is thus a premium placed on making windshield installation a task which may be accomplished by a single installer with limited equipment.
Suction cup grips have long been used for engaging and moving large sheets of glass. Suction handles for planar plate glass typically have two suction cups with a straight bar between them. These handles permit one installer, or two when the glass sheet is especially large, to lift, position, and install a sheet of flat glass. However, automobile windshield installation presents demands not encountered by plate glass installers. Because the automobile hood in nearly all cases extends frontwardly from beneath the windshield, access to the glass opening is much more difficult. To reach the opening an installer, while still supporting the windshield, must bend forward over the hood.
In one common mode of installation, a urethane bead of insulation and adhesive is extruded along the pinchweld defining the windshield surround, and the windshield is positioned thereon. In this method, installers have tended to grip the windshield directly. Commonly, aftermarket windshield installation has been accomplished by an installer who grips the windshield directly, applies one edge of the windshield to the adhesive bead in the pinch weld, and then releases the windshield and presses it into place. This mode of installation, however, leaves open the possibility that a tight seal with the glass will not be obtained at all points. Applying sealant directly to the windshield would provide an effective seal, but would no longer allow an installer to grip the windshield directly with his fingers. When handling automobile windshields weighing 50-60 pounds, an installer must be able to maneuver the glass at various different angles and orientations, requiring constant repositioning of the grips as the position of the installer changes.
What is needed is a device which will allow an automobile windshield installer to securely and adjustably grip the windshield, while allowing adhesive to be applied around the rear of the windshield and thereby allowing effective installation of the windshield in a safe and convenient manner.